Audio By Carbonatix
Kateri Poole was suddenly and mysteriously removed from the LSU roster during the 2023-24 women’s college basketball season. The former five-star recruit blames Kim Mulkey for the bizarre sequence of events.
Poole explained what happened during a livestream on Instagram.
The unusual saga dates back to May 2, 2022 when Poole transferred to LSU after two seasons at Ohio State. She played in every game for the Tigers during their national championship run.
Katerie Poole 🗡️
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 2, 2023
📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/ZNwzoeKxsw
That was not the case during her second year in Baton Rouge.
Poole played just 12.8 minutes per game in four games to begin the 2023-24 season and then she disappeared from the lineup and the bench. Mulkey called it a “coach’s decision.”
Not long thereafter, after she served a suspension for undisclosed reasons, the head coach revealed that Poole was no longer with the program. Mulkey did not provide any additional information on the decision.
Poole later entered the transfer portal in March as a a graduate transfer with at least one year of eligibility remaining. Houston ultimately received her commitment.
The Cougars were able to overlook Poole’s baggage and signed her for the 2024-25 season in May.
Nobody knew what happened. The bizarre exit from LSU remained a mystery until Thursday night.
Poole broke the silence and spilled the tea.
Truthfully, [Mulkey] said that I sent in a scouting report to another school. I ain’t do that s—!
I was like, “What do we do now?”
She said, “You’re kicked off.” I said, “Boom, aight.”
She said, “No longer on the team.” I took it, asked if I could still play. She said “yep.”
Scholarship, boom, was allowed to transfer. Now, I’m at Houston.
Please stop asking me about that s—.
— Kateri Poole
Mulkey first relegated Poole to the bench during a game against Kent State. It was right after wins over Queens and Mississippi Valley State, which followed a season-opening loss to Colorado.
We do not know whether Kateri Poole actually provided the scouting report to any of those four teams. Nor do we know what team she might’ve helped.
Either way, whatever went down must’ve been pretty serious for Kim Mulkey to kick her off of the team. And it seems rather strange that Poole would accept the punishment if she was truly innocent. The truth of what happened likely falls somewhere in the middle.